Xavier Preston: LB · West Virginia · #5.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
Xavier Preston
Fills the run lane and blitzes off the edge. Second year in the West Virginia linebacker corps. A game that shows it: 5 tackles against TCU — Week 6, 2017.
Play style
Downhill striker who fills the run lane and blitzes off the edge.
Activity vs finishing · season enumeration
What the box score actually says
27 tackles. 1 pass defended. 0 interceptions. 2.5 TFL.
Counts only, never a rate — splash-event sample sizes this small (interceptions, pass breakups, TFL) are noise as a rate and signal only as a tally.
No outlet on our list has written about this player by name this season.
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| Season | Team | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | West Virginia | 27 | 19 | 2.5 | 2.0 | 1 |
| 2016 | West Virginia | 11 | 8 | 1.0 | 1.0 | -- |
| Career | 38 | 27 | 3.5 | 3.0 | 1 |
Game log · Week-by-week
2017 season · 10 games
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| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | L 24-31vs No. 21 Virginia Tech | 5 | 2 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 2 | W 56-20vs East Carolina | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 3 | W 59-16vs Delaware State | 3 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 4 | W 56-34@ Kansas | 2 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 6 | L 24-31@ No. 8 TCU | 5 | 5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 7 | W 46-35vs No. 24 Texas Tech | 2 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 8 | W 38-36@ Baylor | 4 | 2 | 1.0 | 1.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 9 | L 39-50vs No. 11 Oklahoma State | 2 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 13 | L 31-59@ No. 3 Oklahoma | 2 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
 Bowl | L 14-30vs Utah | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | 1.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 27 | 19 | 2.5 | 2.0 | — | 1 |
Week 8 · 2017
W 38-36
at Baylor
1 sack · 1 tackle for loss · 4 tackles
Edged out Baylor on the road in a shootout.
Where his impact shows up on the stat sheet
Tackle volume
27tackles this seasonTFL rate
9%2 TFLSack rate
7%2 sacksPD rate
4%1 pass breakups27 tackles · 2.5 for loss · 2 sacks.
2 seasons under Dana Holgorsen — 17-9 over that span.
Splits · Per-game
2017 season · 10 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home4g | 2.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Road4g | 3.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.0 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-77g | 2.7 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Weeks 8+3g | 2.7 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.0 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Dana Holgorsen
Pass share
51.4%
480 pass / 454 run
Plays / game
71.8
13 games
Team sack rate
4.0%
505 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Balanced.
Player standing · 2017
Fewer tackles a game than most FBS linebackers who play every week.
How it ended
Two seasons at West Virginia, 38 tackles — the college career is complete.
Coaching lineage · 2015–2017
1 coachPlayed every college season under Dana Holgorsen.
